🥔 Classic Potato Latkes

Ingredients

• 3 lb Russet potatoes, peeled
• 1 Yellow onion
• 2 Eggs, large, beaten
• ⅓ cup All-purpose flour, or matzo meal
• 1½ tsp Kosher salt
• ½ tsp Ground black pepper
• ½ tsp Baking powder
• 1½ cup Vegetable oil (soybean), for frying; about ¼ inch in the pan

• For serving

• 1 cup Applesauce, unsweetened, homemade or store-bought (optional)
• 1 cup Sour cream (optional)

Nutrition

Steps

You’ll need: box grater or food processor with a grating disk, clean kitchen towel, 2 large bowls, large heavy skillet (cast iron is ideal), thermometer (optional), wide spatula, baking sheet with a wire rack.

1. Heat the oven to 200°F and set a wire rack in a baking sheet. Frying safety: use a heavy pan, keep the oil below smoking (350 to 375°F), and never leave hot oil alone. Keep a lid or sheet pan beside the stove; if the oil catches fire, turn off the burner and slide the lid over it. Never pour water on a grease fire. Keep children back from the stove.
2. Grate the potatoes and onion on the large holes of a box grater or in a food processor, alternating them; the onion helps keep the potatoes from turning gray.
3. Squeeze the grated potatoes hard in a clean kitchen towel, a handful at a time, over a bowl. Dry potatoes make crisp latkes, and less water means less spattering oil. Let the squeezed-out liquid sit 5 minutes, pour off the water and keep the white potato starch at the bottom of the bowl.
4. Mix the potatoes and onion with the starch, eggs, flour, salt, pepper and baking powder.
5. Heat about ¼ inch of oil in the skillet over medium-high heat until a shred of potato sizzles right away (about 350 to 375°F).
6. Drop in heaping 2-tablespoon mounds, a few at a time without crowding, and flatten them to about 3 inches. Fry 3 to 4 minutes per side, until deep golden brown and crisp. Lower the heat if they brown too fast.
7. Drain briefly on paper towels, then move to the rack in the oven. Keep finished latkes warm and crisp in one layer on a wire rack set in a baking sheet in a 200°F oven while you fry the rest. Stir the batter between batches and add oil as needed, letting it heat back up.
8. Serve hot with applesauce and sour cream. When you’re done, turn off the burner and let the oil cool completely before throwing it away in a sealed container.